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THE International Agribusiness Conference and Expo will be in Savannah Sept. 25-26. Hosted by the University of Georgia and Georgia Southern University, participants will talk with industry experts and attend workshops to help understand and find buyers in foreign markets.

The Port of Savannah is already No. 2 in the nation for export tons and the Georgia Ports Authority wants to double its capacity within the next decade.

That’s good news for Georgia farmers.

“Over the next 10 or 12 years, we’ll be making significant investments in infrastructure and technology improvements to the facility,” said Mark Troughton, global accounts executive at the GPA. “The big part of the goal is to be able to double the capacity we handle today. Today we handle about 3 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent container units). In the future, we’ll be able to handle about 6.5 million TEUs.”

Doubling capacity will enable larger shipments to be exported, meaning a greater opportunity for Georgia farmers and businesses to increase their economic productivity around the world. Already, almost 39 percent of shipments exported through the Savannah port are agricultural commodities.

“We see this very much as a growing market,” Troughton said. “One thing this country does very well is farm. We think we’re going to be the breadbasket for a lot of areas in the world, not just our area, for the next 20 years.”

Farmers and agricultural businesses around the country will have an opportunity to enhance their exporting knowledge at the International Agribusiness Conference and Expo to be held in Savannah on Sept. 25-26. During the two-day event, which is hosted by the University of Georgia and Georgia Southern University at the Savannah International Trade and Convention Center, participants will interact with industry experts and attend workshops such as finding markets and buyers for your products; financing your export transactions; and learning about the country’s agricultural position in the world market.